MAC QUAYLE

SEARCH

Biography
Events
Mixes
Discography
Photos
Vinyl
CDs/Albums
Charts
Links
News
Bookings

RANK	SCORE ?	GENRE	LOCATION
46585	0	n/a	US

With more than 300 records in his discography, 30 #1 Billboard dance chart hits and a Grammy nomination, Mac inhabits a lofty echelon. Whether on his own or collaborating with the world's top producers and DJs, including longtime partner Hex Hector, he has remixed nearly every major superstar — Madonna, Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston, Britney Spears, Beyonce Knowles, Sheryl Crow, Mary J. Blige, and Everything But The Girl to name a few — and accumulated a stunning variety of production and musician credits.

As a keyboardist and programmer, Mac has recorded with such diverse artists as Electronic, Yoko Ono, Vitamin C, Book of Love, India and Marc Anthony. Now, after a decade of sending music to the clubs and the airwaves by way of his various New York City recording studios, he is bringing it directly to the people as DJ: "It just seemed like a natural evolution to me. My passion for dance music needed other outlets to express itself."

And in his comparatively short career as DJ, he has been igniting dance floors all over North America — New York, Miami, Minneapolis, Montreal and Toronto —with an original blend of high-octane progressive house music. Mac himself calls it "deep-funky-tribal-techno. Whatever makes me want to shake it, I just play how I feel." Not one to leave his musicianship behind in the studio, Mac often incorporates live keyboards and sound manipulation into his DJ sets: "There's nothing like the feeling I get from seeing people react to my live playing. It's a deeper level of connection than just spinning records"

Whereas many of today's top DJs were spinning music for years before they ever stepped into a studio to create it, Mac took the journey the other way round.

He began in southern Virginia during the frenetic early '80s when music was first starting to stretch its electronic legs. As keyboard player for the legendary New Wave band the X-Raves, he opened for such seminal acts as Gang of Four, the Ramones, Simple Minds and Modern English before heading out on his own for a year of solo performances, which culminated in an opening show for Thomas Dolby and a self-produced EP, Following Directions.

He quickly outgrew the small, if vibrant, southern scene and decided to take his music to the source, New York City. There, Mac paid his dues in the studio with some of the hottest producers of the late '80s, including Arthur Baker, "Little" Louie Vega, David Morales, Aarif Mardin, and Flood. And in 1991, as an emergent songwriter, he signed a worldwide publishing deal with MCA Music.

It was during this period of intensive apprenticeship and invention that Mac and two fellow explorers formed the avant-garde ensemble Fibre. In their decade of experimentation, the trio released two albums and performed their inimitable blend of curiosities — transcendent sound and visuals — in New York's most adventurous venues, drawing much critical acclaim along the way: "...as you float just under the surface, slivers of light break through the cultural flotsam above, giving you glimpses of, and calling forth scenes from, our collective consciousness. Quite exquisite." - Interface Magazine

Mac's unparalleled musicianship and creativity gradually became invaluable to the New York dance sound. It was inevitable; therefore, that he would begin co-producing with DJs and producers he had been working with for years. And as a producer, he could finally shape the path dance music would take, not only in New York, but across the globe. In 1997, the seeds were planted for what was to become the now-famous production partnership, HQ2, with world-renowned DJ and Grammy-winning remixer Hex Hector: "Working with Mac has changed the way I make records. He has a way of bringing the sounds I hear in my head to life, I've never seen anything like it." Together, Mac and Hex have transformed the songs of the industry's biggest stars — Mariah Carey, Toni Braxton, Deborah Cox, Enrique Iglesias, and many more — into big-room house anthems that have thrilled club goers worldwide.

In 2000, HQ2 achieved one of their highest honors to date when their production of Donna Summer's hit single, "I Will Go With You," was nominated for a Grammy for Best Dance Record of the Year. A steady flow of accolades and hits followed. Most recently, they produced singles for Ricky Martin and Sonique. And Mac's latest solo feats include remixing Annie Lennox's new single "Pavement Cracks", remaking the classic Tears for Fears song "The Hurting" with Donna DeLory (of Madonna fame), and co-writing two songs for MCA newcomer Becky Baeling.

The future? Writing and producing music with various collaborators including star DJ Victor Calderone, recording an original album of HQ2 works with Hex, and taking his newly honed spinning talents around the globe.

For this multilayered musician, it is a journey in many directions. But always up.